Sitting Josh Rosen was the right move, and so is starting him next week

With the game against the Atlanta Falcons out of hand in the fourth quarter, the Arizona Cardinals pulled rookie quarterback Josh Rosen and let Mike Glennon finish the game. The score was 40-7, Rosen had been sacked six times, hit and pressured more than a dozen other times and picked off twice.

Steve Wilks called it “a smart decision” after the game.

It was. If this season is about developing Rosen and giving him experience, there was no point to have him continue to get his brains beat in and experience more failure.

That game was lost. The last thing the Cardinals needed was to have him get hurt.

There was nothing to be gained from Rosen continuing to play.

A portion of fans believes the Cardinals should let Glennon finish the season, let Josh Rosen sit and avoid the risk of getting injured or broken mentally.

That isn’t the answer either.

Rosen still needs reps. He needs to face adversity, get different looks, succeed, fail and grow. He can’t do that on the bench.

And it isn’t like he has been completely awful. He has been inconsistent.

He needs to start the final two games and try and win. If things get out of hand like they did on Sunday, then Wilks should do what he did then — pull him and get Glennon in there.

If there is any positive Rosen can gain, he needs to have it.

It is better for him to make mistakes and take his lumps now, rather than next season when hopefully the Cardinals are competing for more than a top-five pick in the draft.